“Most astonishing is that Europe became an area for the CIA’s actions”

Former member of the European Parliament Giulietto Chiesa questions the sovereignty of European countries as yet another controversy regarding the CIA’s actions in Europe comes hot on the heels of similar scandals.

The CIA and controversial US security company, Blackwater, are in the middle of a new anti-terrorist scandal – this time, in Germany.

According to Der Spiegel magazine, a team of Blackwater operatives, hired by the CIA, were allegedly working in Hamburg five years ago.

They had a secret mission to kidnap a German citizen with suspected ties to Al-Qaeda and 9/11 terror attacks, the report said.

The story is gaining momentum as it follows controversy over CIA operations in Yemen. The German parliament has promised to look into the matter closely.

Jurgen Elsasser, an investigative journalist and author, says all political parties in Germany are very upset about “this breach of our sovereignty by a foreign secret service.”

“In fact, that is against international law and our constitution. The spokesmen for the German Christian Democrats and Social Democrats – who are in the opposition in the parliament – are now urging a parliamentary inquiry of these events,” Elsasser said.

He added that the media are covering the story. “When the mess came up there was a lot of protest and anger in the German media,” he said.

But now he says pro-American media are trying to play things down, “They said the American journalist who researched this plot is a bit suspicious because the author, who writes for Vanity Fair [who broke the story] was a former CIA employee and they allege that he is trying to take revenge against the CIA and story is not true.”

Other media, such as Der Spiegel, have reported new revelations and confessions of former CIA members.

The European Parliament has already conducted its own investigation into the CIA’s actions in Europe, and Giulietto Chiesa took part in its discussions.

“We didn't know how or where they acted, but it is clear the operation was huge and took place all around the world. And what’s most astonishing is that it was done inside foreign countries like Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Britain and so on,” Chiesa says.